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Jurassic Park wiki:Manual of Style
Jurassic Park wiki's Manual of Style is a collection of guidelines and rules of thumb that are designed to set a standard format and appearance for all of its articles. In addition to accuracy and completeness, one of the major goals for which Jurassic Park wiki strives is consistency. This Manual of Style is designed to make articles: # easy to read and understand, # organized and consistent, # attractive to the reader, and # easy to edit Of course, none of these rules are set in stone. They are merely what the creators and editors of Jurassic Park wiki currently feel is the best way to accomplish the above goals. Keep in mind that, like Jurassic Park wiki itself, the Manual of Style is a work in progress, so if you come across something that's missing, feel free to either add a description of how you feel is the best way to organize an aspect of the site, or discuss possible options on the forum. Remember that everyone has a say in how Jurassic Park wiki is created. General= Keep it simple Above all else, you are encouraged to keep your articles simple! Don't try to get too fancy with your markup (like embedding tables within tables). The easier the markup is, the easier it will be for anyone to edit the article later on. Our first goal is to reliably and accurately display the information. The goal of wiki markup is to keep the articles simple and to emphasize the information as much as possible. We prefer content over form. For this and other reasons, HTML markup should be avoided in most circumstances. Article names There are some general rules regarding how articles on Jurassic Park wiki should be named. * Article names should be in singular form, not plural. The only exceptions are things which always appear in plural form in the English language, such as binoculars or boltcutters. * The titles of articles about characters should be the name by which the character was most commonly known in the the Jurassic''verse, with later names preferred to earlier ones, and full names preferred to partial names or nicknames. Titles such as "Captain," "Doctor," "Agent" or "Mister" should be omitted. * Unless the name of the article contains a proper noun, only the first word should be capitalized. * Disambiguation tags may also be necessary in the title. See below for more information. Disambiguation Disambiguation is the process of resolving ambiguity, the conflict that occurs when a term is closely associated with two or more different topics. In many cases, this word or phrase is the "natural" title of more than one article; however, disambiguation may also serve to differentiate more than one similarly titled article for a reader. Essentially, disambiguations are paths leading to different topics that share the same term or a similar term. There are three ways to disambiguate on '''Jurassic Park wiki': Disambiguation tags Disambiguation tags are usually necessary for people, places or things which share the same name. These tags appear in the title in parentheses, eg. (Jurassic Park), (Operation Genesis), (actor), etc. Deciding what to title a tag can be tricky, but it should be consistent. In the case of characters with the same name, tags should indicate which film or novel they appeared. In the case of two characters from the same film or novel, title, position or affiliation may be used to distinguish. These same rules should be applied to non-character articles as well, if possible. Disambiguation tags usually won't be necessary for locations. If two locations share the same name, the titles of the articles should be expanded to be more specific. For example, "Portland, Oregon" and "Portland, Maine". "Portland" would then be made into a disambiguation page (see below). Situations for creating disambiguation tags may vary drastically, so there can be no set rules, but editors are asked to keep them as clear and consistent as possible. Disambiguation pages As illustrated above, the most common form of disambiguation page on Jurassic Park wiki distiguishes between character names. If two characters share an identical name or more than two characters share similar names, a separate disambiguation page is created. For example, if there exist three characters named "Bob Smith," "Bob Jones" and "Bob Miller," no disambiguation page is needed. However, if there later appears a character named simply "Bob," a disambiguation page will need to be created (titled "Bob"), listing all four characters alphabetically with descriptions and links to their proper pages. The page for the character known only as "Bob" page will contain a disambiguation tag such as "(Jurassic Park)" or "(The Lost World)." If any other simply named Bob is later created, new disambiguation tags will be used, as illustrated above. Note that these rules apply exactly the same for last-name-only characters, as well as locations and items which share the same name. Redirects Occasionally, certain characters or items are known by more than one name or more than one spelling. In most situations, it's wise to create redirect pages for any and all alternate titles that may be queried when looking for a specific article. To create a redirect page, type the following in the edit field: : #REDIRECT [[RealArticle]] Italics Source: Things that should be italicized: *Genus and species, i.e. Tyrannosaurus rex *Book titles, i.e. Jurassic Park *Movie titles, i.e. Jurassic World *Game titles, i.e. Jurassic Park: The Game Things that should be in quotes: *Book chapter titles, i.e. "Nedry" *Game level titles, i.e. "Jungle Road" Things that should not be italicized nor be in quotes, only capitalized: *Place names, i.e. Isla Nublar *Attraction names, i.e. Stegosaur South, Sauropod Swamp *Toy line names, i.e. The Lost World Series 2 A species name in a title does not get italicized unless the original was formatted that way: :i.e. the level in Jurassic Park: The Game should be "Triceratops Trouble", not "Triceratops Trouble" Article introduction Every page should begin with an introduction, briefly summarizing the article for the reader. The introduction should give a quick explanation of what the article is about and establish its context. The length of the introduction can vary from a single sentence to multiple paragraphs. The title or subject of that article should appear in the first line in bold. Even though the article title is already listed, it's useful to emphasize the article's subject for the reader. Headlines and sections To create a new section in an article, surround the text with two or more (equal signs). The wiki engine will automatically create a table of contents once there are four or more headers in an article. The first word and all proper nouns of the header should be capitalized, and all other words lowercase. Please avoid using links in headers. Depending on the browser's default settings, some users may not be able to see the links properly. It is much more useful to place the appropriate link in the first sentence after the header. Perspective and tense There exist two perspectives of articles on Jurassic Park wiki, "in-universe" and "out-of-universe." In-universe describes things which exist within the world of Jurassic Park, while out-of-universe describes things which exist in the real world. For example, Eric Kirby exists in-universe, while Trevor Morgan exists out-of-universe. In-universe All in-universe (IU) articles are to be written in the past tense, from the perspective of someone documenting the events from the far future. This creates consistency across all in-universe articles and eliminates the necessity of subjectively deciding when an unresolved loose end is no longer "current" or "recent." Additionally, although much of Jurassic Park takes place in our future, the future tense should never be used in in-universe articles. Other than specific background information sections of the page, the main body of in-universe articles should never refer to the series Jurassic Park or any real life things such as actors, episodes or the like. Out-of-universe Out-of-universe (OOU) articles are to be written from a real life point of view, using a combination of past, present and future tense. For example, the biography of an actor may include all three tenses: : ''Jane Snow was born in Saskatchewan, Canada in 1953. She currently plays the role of Lola McElroy on 24. Snow will be appearing in the upcoming film Full House: The Movie.'' Articles about films, books, comics, games, or other real life Jurassic Park story material should contain a detailed synopsis of events, written in the simple present tense. Real-life in-universe Jurassic Park is a series of films and books which is set in the real world. While the characters and some other things such as the dinosaurs are fictional, much of what is referred to in the series are things which exist in the real world. When writing in-universe articles for these things, it's important to only include information that was actually given in the series, and not assume that other "known" facts exist within the JP''verse as well. For example, Montana is the location of Grant's dig sites, however it would be inappropriate to include its current population or the year of its incorporation unless it was specifically revealed in the series. Sometimes however, ''no information is given about a real life article and it is necessary to add one or two establishing facts in order for there to be enough to even create an article. This should be kept to a minimum and only done when absolutely necessary. Additionally, it's often useful for a reader to learn more about a real-world subject as it establishes context for the events in the series. This can be achieved by posting facts under the "Trivia" section and/or linking to an external site, such as Wikipedia. Images Non-Jurassic Park pictures This is a Jurassic Park wiki, therefore only pictures from JP media are allowed. We don't want to see any pictures from , Primeval, Terra Nova etc. There are exceptions: * In blog or forum posts you can post whatever you like, as long as it follows Wikia guidelines. This means no pornography, illegal material, etc. * On your userpage you can put whatever pictures you like, again as long as they follow Wikia guidelines. * If a dinosaur, character or event has no nice pictures in JP media, like Jack Thorne, JP fan art is allowed. Procedure for expressing disagreement A lot of things in JP media are unclear. Therefore, it is bound to happen that the wiki presents material in a way some users will not agree with. To name a few issues: * On Park Pedia we do not use species names that JPLegacy uses, like Velociraptor antirrhopus nublaris and Pteranodon longiceps hippocratesi. * We assume that the deleted Boardroom Scene is canonial. * We do not regard the Jurassic Park: Raptor I as film canon. * We assume Jurassic Park: The Game is part of the film canon. An individual user does not have the right (even if they are right) to decide on their what should be written on the wiki. A wiki is a team effort. Therefore, decisions have to be made as a team. You have no right to change the content of articles as you see fit. If you start , you will be blocked. This is what you can do: * Go to the General Discussion on the forum. * Check if the issues isn't already been discussed in the past. * Join the old thread or start a new. * Write calmly down what you think that should be changed on this wiki. Be carefull: **Use good and solid arguments. **Avoid heavy emotions (e.g. hatred). **Avoid . **Avoid . In the discussion that follows you have to try to convince most of the wikis active users of your case. When most active users agree with you, changes to the wiki should be made accordingly. In the event that minority of admins and bureaucrats abuse their powers to enforce their personal views, you should complain at Wikia. When you fail to convince most of the active users of your case, you have two options: * Accept that your view isn't shared by most of the community. Be a team player and accept the current structure of the wiki. * Cease editing this wiki and join/set up an online community that shares your views. |-|Dino article= Infobox An infobox is a great way to pack a lot of information about a dinosaur into a small and readable space. The usual dinosaur infobox follows this style: Only add movies and the like that are from official JP Media ONLY. Which Dinosaurs Should be Here? Only add dinosaurs that have been in JP media. Dinosaurs like have never appeared in any JP media, so we don't need that dinosaur on this wiki. Content Only add known information about this dinosaur onto its respective page. Make sure to cite reference your information if it isn't common knowledge. |-|Character article= Infobox Characters (human or named dinosaur) also use an infobox for the same reasons. Following a near identical style: Quotes It's very also helpful to have a quote about a character to show their personality. The quote is followed by a link the where that quote comes from. Content Content on a character article should including similar things that are on a dinosaur article. Known information and a reference if not everyone knows about it. |-|Building article= Infobox Building serve an important role in JP Media, usually where characters talk or avoid dinosaurs. This is an example of a typical building infobox: Which Buildings Should be Here? Not every building needs an article. For instance, a Jurassic World doesn't need to be an article here. Content Only add the history and the useage of the building, such as when it was built, what happened in it, and its future. |-|Media article= About Media pages are part of movie articles that have pre-release footage. It works like a smaller part of the initial page, dedicated to one subject. Infobox Media articles also follow by an infobox rule. Content Media pages usually have a information regarding video that has been shown off before or after the films release, such as trailers and behind the scenes footage. |-|Category= Categories Categories are used to put related subjects together. At the bottom of an article thumbnails are shown to articles that share categories with the current page. However, a lot of users add popular articles to a HUGE amount of new categories. Therefore, it is important to have clear rules about them. Usefull categories First of all, a category must be useful for this wiki. Examples of useless categories: * Brainy1130's Favorite Pages (stupid!) * Pachyrostra (this is a Jurassic Park wiki, not wikipedia) * Blond actress A category can not be too general. Otherwise Ian Malcolm and Allosaurus will end up in the same category. And what would be the point of that? Examples of too general categories: * Jurassic Park Trilogy * Jurassic Park 3D * 1993 * 1997 * 2001 * Carnivores Furthermore, a category can not be too specific. * Tyrannosaurus * Small carnivores of Jurassic Park III (only contains the velociraptors) * Tiny carnivores of Jurassic Park III (only contain the Compies) * Killed by Raptors Hierarchy If you add categories, you must consider the hierarchy of categories. Many categories are a more specialised version of a more general one. For example, the category Dinosaurs has subcategories: * Dinosaurs ** Sauropods ** Theropods ** Ornithischia Allosaurus must be put in Theropods, NOT in Dinosaurs or Reptiles. It are the categorie Theropods that is put into Dinosaurs, and Dinosaurs is placed in Reptiles. Proper use A category can be useful, but must be used properly. For example, the category Movies contains only JP films. It is wrong to put everything that appears in movies (like Ian Malcolm and the Barbasol can to that category. To avoid confusion, the category pages need to state clearly what topics can be added to the category. "Villains" Category The villains category must apply only to human characters that are obvious villains (like Billy Yoder who wanted to kill the Hardings in Jurassic Park: The Game and Lewis Dodgson who attempted to kill Sarah Harding twice in and his otherwise shady history with Biosyn). Animals, such as The Big One or Spinosaurus do not apply to this category because they have no knowledge of human morals. Categories by Diet Categories by diet are not allowed. What we know about dinosaurs changes each day, including its diet. The category is also too general. List of categories These are the only categories the community has agreed upon. However, this isn't wikipedia. Therefore, the categories don't have to be precise or contain paleontologic jargon. BastionMonk (talk) 10:37, April 10, 2014 (UTC) Animal categories *Animals ** Arthropods ** Cephalopods ** Fish **Amphibians **Reptiles **Mammals * Reptiles **Crocodiles **Dinosaurs **Mammal-like reptiles ** Marine reptiles ***Plesiosaurs ***Mosasaurs ***Ichthyosaur **Snakes **Turtles *Dinosaurs **Theropods ***Raptors (better known than Dromeosaurs) ***Birds **Sauropods **Ornithischia ***Stegosaurs (not Stegosauria or Thyreophora) ***Ankylosaurs ***Ornithopods ***Pachycephalosaurs ***Ceratopsians *Aquatic animals ** Amphibians ** (some) Arthropods ** Cephalopods ** Fish ** Marine reptiles ***Plesiosaurs ***Mosasaurs ***Ichthyosaur *Fictional creatures **Hybirds ***Dinosaur hybrids Character categories NA Picture categories *Jurassic Park Film Images ** Main Road Attack Images ** Tyrannosaurus Rescue Images * Tyrannosaurus Images **Tyrannosaurus Jurassic Park Film Images *** Main Road Attack Images *** Tyrannosaurus Rescue Images **Tyrannosaurus The Lost World Film Images **Tyrannosaurus Jurassic Park III Images **Tyrannosaurus Operation Genesis Images *Character Images **Alan Grant Images ***Alan Grant Jurassic Park Film Images ***Alan Grant Jurassic Park III Images ***Alan Grant Operation Genesis Images ***Alan Grant Builder Images Category:Jurassic Park wiki